“Market Share is Our Priority”: HTC CEO

If there was one thing HTC learned with last year’s original HTC One model, it’s that having a great smartphone alone doesn’t necessarily guarantee good sales and market share. Burdened by weak marketing and supply shortages, the device not only failed to turn the Taiwanese company’s struggling business around last year, it was also heavily overshadowed by competing products such as Samsung’s Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5s.

With the all new HTC One (M8), which features an improved 2.3 Ghz quad core processor from Qualcomm, a 90% metal body, enhanced software, and better speakers, the Taiwanese company is looking to adjust everything that went wrong in the past, and to re-focus on the key areas that it previously neglected.

“The most important goals for us, at this point, are to improve worldwide market share, implement successful product design, and increase the overall number of smartphone units we can sell,” HTC CEO Peter Chou said during yesterday’s press event. “Our priority is more about ensuring the development of our company’s long term market value than it is about focusing on short term competition.”

Other than obtaining meaningful market share, Chou stated that having a “powerful” product and extensive global reach is what essentially gives a brand its momentum. For 2014 and beyond, the company is eyeing for a possible market share of 8% to 10%, which would be a massive improvement over the current 2%.